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A CRM Tool That Effectively Captures the Communities Relationships

Teaser:

Mennonite World Conference (MWC) is a not-for-profit charitable organization. MWC is called to be a communion (Koinonia) of Anabaptist-related churches linked to one another in a worldwide community of faith for fellowship, worship, service, and witness. With two offices located in Kitchener, Ontario and Bogotá, Colombia, MWC membership includes 101 Mennonite and Brethren in Christ national conferences of churches with 1.2 million world-wide baptized believers, and one international association.

The Challenge

Mennonite World Conference has thousands of members and donors worldwide and desired to have a better, more holistic, understanding of how each member and/or donor interacts with its organization. MWC needed an updated donor management system that required minimal customization, fit the needs of a not-for-profit organization, and could be achieved within its low budget restraints.

Before its upgraded technology, MWC’s reporting capability was limited and thereby presented challenges to their fundraising efforts. According to Len Rempel, Chief Operating Officer at Mennonite World Conference, “we had silos of information which prevented us from recognizing and utilizing the various relationships within our data.” Additionally, data was being recorded inefficiently, leading to a duplication of efforts and unnecessary challenges when data needed to be changed or updated in several locations. MWC also lacked a coordinated system that met its unique need of having staff and volunteers spread out around the world that needed easy access to information. Finally, MWC required a better event management system that could easily integrate with the other event systems it had.

"CiviCRM works well with our structure and provides an intuitive organization that streamlines processes and allows easy access to information."

Len RempelChief Operating OfficerMennonite World Conference

The Solution: Tools that Foster Relationships

In order to overcome MWC’s challenges in obtaining a donor and event management system, it worked with its technology provider, PeaceWorks Technology Solutions. PeaceWorks recommended CiviCRM, a Constituent Relationship Management tool that is a robust, web-based, open source tool that is developed around the idea that beginning and growing strong relationships with constituents is the heart of any technology solution.

CiviCRM, created specifically for the not-for-profit sector, has extensive features that were easily customized to suit the needs of MWC. This new tool replaced MWC’s outdated systems and provides greater flexibility in creating accessibility of all MWCs information for staff all over the world. Additionally, CiviCRM enabled a central repository of all major documents, reducing the need for local document stores. Rempel states, “Mennonite World Conference purposely exists as more of a network than a formal organization, it minimizes structure and maximizes connectivity. CiviCRM works well with our structure and provides an intuitive organization that streamlines processes and allows easy access to information.” CiviCRM also provides MWC with complete donation tracking, giving full donor history, as well as the ability to connect past donations to help seed new campaigns. PeaceWorks worked with MWC to customize CiviCRM to allow full support for data entry and reporting in multiple currencies, ensuring all analyses and reporting are comprehensive and complete.

"Working with Mennonite World Conference, and further developing our relationship, resulted in a system that helps MWC fulfill its mission. That is the goal of each project we complete at PeaceWorks."

The Results

Mennonite World Conference now has one CRM tool that effectively captures the relationships of its participants, recording all interactions, scheduling follow-up interactions, managing fundraising activities, tracking event registration and participation, as well as managing mailing lists and mass communications. The ability to provide all staff, determined by role-based permissions, access to holistic information has allowed MWC staff to more effectively utilize the data and respond to the needs of the organization to further its mission of connecting the global church.

"PeaceWorks took the time to understand MWC as an organization, develop a relationship with us, and therefore was able to recommend CiviCRM as the right solution for our issues."

Len RempelChief Operating OfficerMennonite World Conference

The Relationship

PeaceWorks Technology Solutions had been working as the IT provider for Mennonite World Conference since 2003, so when MWC decided to upgrade its technology infrastructure, PeaceWorks was uniquely qualified to respond to MWC’s RFP. Rempel had confidence in working with PeaceWorks, stating, “MWC is all about relationships, including having a relationship with our technology consultants. PeaceWorks took the time to understand MWC as an organization, develop a relationship with us, and therefore was able to recommend CiviCRM as the right solution for our issues.” Jake Martin White, a senior software technician with PeaceWorks Technology Solutions, knows that every large organizational change
comes with challenges and claims, “an effective CiviCRM implementation requires a mutual understanding of needs and thorough communication that encourages organizations to think about why they want a particular solution, what they think it will accomplish, and work through the changes with clear expectations. Working with Mennonite World Conference, and further developing our relationship, resulted in a system that helps MWC fulfill its mission. That is the goal of each project we complete at PeaceWorks.”